The Berkshires' Independent Alternative Newsthing

Girls are officially in Boy Scouts. Now what?

If you’ve lived under a rock for the past year or so, this might be breaking news to you, but starting today — Feb. 1, 2019 — the Boy Scouts of America have opened the final door to girls participating in the organization’s keystone program: The Boy Scouts.

With one minor change: The program for 11-to-17 year olds that is most famously known for the Eagle Scout Award also changed it’s name to “Scouts BSA” today.

Screeeeeeech!

Did you hear the sound of tires screeching on pavement? Just a few sentences in and I feel the need to explain this further.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are two completely different organizations. Obviously, they both have the word “Scouts” in their name, but that’s about as much as they have in common. They are both 501(c)3 non-profit organizations. But you won’t find a Lion Cub Scout selling cookies outside your local HEB next month. However, a Girl Scout in a Daisy troop could be a Cub Scout too, but she’d be wearing her Girl Scout uniform.

My daughter’s own Girl Scout troop leader — who is also her Cub Scout den leader — has to do double duty and meet the requirements of each organization, separately. The BSA’s BALOO camping training and the Girl Scouts’ Camp Certification are different courses with different requirements and training structures.

So let’s be crystal clear: The Girl Scouts are not the Boy Scouts, and vice versa.

Let’s add in some more confusion: There are also other scouting groups such as the American Heritage Girls and Trail Life USA, which offer different opportunities in similar structures as their *ahem* “competitor” Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts. So if neither Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts matches your pallet for life education, then you still have options.

Therefore, if dad’s old Cub Scout uniform fits son — or daughter — they can wear it with the child’s correct patches and badges.

New handbooks

The new Scouts BSA handbook for girls and handbook for boys. (Boy Scouts of America)

There are new Scouts BSA handbooks as well. There are female- and male-specific versions. However, the BSA emphasized the differences are only with imagery and gender-specific pronouns.

“The photos reflect the troop of which the Scout is a member,” Bryan Wendell wrote in the BSA’s informative blog. “In other words, boys will see images of other boys in the Scouts BSA Handbook for Boys; girls will see images of other girls in the Scouts BSA Handbook for Girls.“

In a pinch, a scouting adult volunteer leader could grab either version, as page numbers and advancement requirements are exactly the same with the exception of “he/she” in the verbiage.

A rose by any other name …

“Hey Creighton, that’s a lot of new and different stuff!”

Well, not really. The rank requirements and merit badges aren’t changing. If you had to hike a mile for an achievement yesterday, you still have to hike that same mile today.

The BSA has been adamant about not lowering any standard for the Eagle Scout rank, and the same goes for its other ranks, badges and awards.

Also, the girls joining Scouts BSA will be in their own, separate troops. The girls who’ve already been in Cub Scouts have been in their own dens.

This isn’t a change in the Boy Scouts’ program, it’s a subtle change that could lead to better opportunities for our daughters than any generation of women have had ever before: The only difference is that females who are in both BSA and GUSA troops — remember these are two separate non-profit organizations — will be able to earn both an Eagle Scout award and a Girl Scout Gold award. So if anything, young ladies exiting both programs have the opportunity to be a step ahead of the young men their same age, when they’re applying to colleges and entering the workforce.

The BSA, realizing that many potential Eagle Scouts are on the verge of joining, has done a once-in-a-lifetime offer for potential scouts that is available for 16 to 17-year-olds that join Scouts BSA for the first time starting from today through Dec. 31, 2019.

Normally, a young man would have needed to complete all the work for his Eagle Scout Award before his 18th birthday. However, starting today a brand-new-to-Scouts-BSA youth who would normally be too old to complete the work to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, has 22 months from the date of joining, as long as they are still 16 or 17.

8 Comments

The Boy Scouts’ long history of adamant homophobia (and resistance to atheism) makes me suspicious of what they will be offering that is better than Girl Scouts. Troops will still be gender segregated. The Girl Scouts have a long and beautiful history of supporting girls, including (perhaps especially) queer girls. I’d stick with them.

Call me old-fashioned, but I’m not keen about it. Boys and girls of that age may naturally be distracted by the opposite gender and cut their fingers while trying to earn their whittling badges. Single gender groups are free from those pressures and able to actually focus on learning skills rather than looking good. As for leadership, much of that comes from the leaders. As a former Girl Scout and also den mother, I’m just glad my kids are grown.

As a former volunteer for both organizations, I value the experiences that both provide. I, however, feel that people realize that Girl Scouts is still very much alive and well in the Berkshires. We have troops throughout and they are not just about cookies and camping, but it is a leadership program designed for girls. Many girls will thrive in Boy Scouts learning the merit badges, but every girl will benefit from the leadership development.

Sounds like you think there’s room for both, if I’m hearing you correctly. We may have to follow this up with a piece that looks at how the adjustment has gone, say, six or eight months from now. Thanks, Colleen!

This is very informative, but the whole thing is tainted for me by that very problematic feature image of a young woman making a seductive face surrounded by old-fashioned illustrated boy scouts. Since the author clearly doesn’t have a problem with girls joining the Scouts USA ranks, the featured image seems especially out of place. No reason to sexualize the young women who will be joining or continuing in the scouts.

Actually, the first several images I tried were of girls with no makeup at all The problem? The eyes looked pretty much the same as boys’ eyes, and the point I’m making is that after more than a century, girls have finally “broken through” into a world that many have tried to access. It wasn’t until I found eyelashes with mascara that a viewer could instantly recognize the thesis of the composition.

As for the image sexualizing young women, I’m afraid that’s something your own biases have created. I included no cleavage, no legs, no lips, no derriere. Only eyes. A wink, in and of itself, is not a sexually suggestive gesture. People wink at the end of a joke, to acknowledge a shared secret, to indicate “I understand,” to say “good-bye,” and yes, sometimes with flirtatious intent. The rhetorical dimension of this particular wink is intended to communicate to other girls the satisfaction of victory over archaic and repressive norms at the end of 100 years of struggle.

So, if you see the sexualization of girls in the image, perhaps you need to take a deeper look into the glass.

Thanks again for your comment, and PLEASE DO explore the site further, and come back again for more conversation worthy content!

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